[Closed] wow - saw a guy riding a bike yesterday with his forks on back to front

They don't know any different. some people don't care what they are riding, it just gets them to the shop and back.

See this all the time at the university and brakes levers on the top of the bars.

I once shouted over at a lad that his forks were on backwards. He was riding aimlessly around the running track, and after a couple of laps I thought I should tell him. He must have thought I was telling him to get off the track, because he took off in a hurry- backwards forks didn't slow him down too much!

[img] [/img]

Some people are clueless.

A guy near us has his forks the right way round and his handlebar and levers set up correctly. But has his stem on backwards, so the bars are behind the headtube.

miketually - Member
A guy near us has his forks the right way round and his handlebar and levers set up correctly. But has his stem on backwards, so the bars are behind the headtube

There's a guy on Youtube who tells you to do this to learn how to manual/wheelie. If your guy only hoons around on his back wheel, it sounds like a plan!

Here you go, Bixio Rimoldi.

It wasnt a lurcher was it 🙂

And no is wasnt one of those reverse arch manitou jobbies

I OTBed once and the stem was all twisted,straightened up my Pace RC35s and carried on down the hill.Thought "Woah, this feels strange!" Re-checked at the bottom and they were the wrong way round,a wee moment of [s]madness,stupidity[/s] distraction 😳 🙂

I saw a girl on a supermarket special with curved rigid forks on backwards, curving back towards the downtube! I nearly said nothing but then had second thoughts and caught her up.

"Hey, er, excuse me... your front forks are on back to front!"

"Oh, my boyfriend built the bike for me!"

"Well he doesn't know much about bikes, does he?"

Was happily road riding through Ashridge in the spring when two chaps on carbon Boardman hardtails popped out of the woods in front of me.

Both with the forks on backwards, thought of leaving it but then felt guilty and turned back round to talk to them.

They'd both picked the bikes up from Halfords in Hemel Hempstead the previous day and thought they 'felt funny.'

I got the multitool out, turned the forks the right way and sent them on their way.

I've seen it on argos kids bikes and cheapo MTB's on occasion but not on a high(ish)end MTB bought at retail.

Shameful.

Its not just Halfords specials, back and too to the shops jobs. I pointed out to someone at Gisburn, on a shiny new Trek Full susser that their forks were on back to front. He'd ridden half away round there like that. I got my multitool out so we could twist them back round. It must have felt pretty life threatening to ride down anything steep on. Muppet!

Saw 2 bikes on the roof of a car in Keilder with forks the wrong way round. Audi A5 £30k. Bikes £300 common sense/ ability to read instructions £ zero......

I've seen quite a few people with forks on backwards, but it's the helmet on backwards that always makes me laugh 🙂

Caught someone on a £2k specialised FS on the MTL with forks on backwards. He was wondering why he was getting foot overlap

Have you tried it?
Maybe they are all right and we are all wrong?

I've seen quite a few people with forks on backwards, but it's the helmet on backwards that always makes me laugh

Yeah, you could [i]almost[/i] imagine how you'd not cotton on to the forks if you know nothing about bikes. But you'd think when you were putting a helmet on you'd try it both ways round if you weren't sure, and then it would be obvious... Guess not. Don't see that too often though.

We do a beginners ride in our road club and we've had more than 30 each week turning up which is great.

Pointed out to one guy that his helmet was on back to front, and I adjusted some Barends which were back to front and pointing vertically (allegedly fitted by Halfords earlier).

We've spent a lot of time doing mobile repairs on bikes that haven't seen the light of day in years but they all enjoy it. lBS sales must be through the roof because more and more are buying new bikes.

Maybe these people who say Halfords/their LBS/wherever fitted them are too embarrassed to say that they did it? Many of these bikes arrive flat packed (even Halfords give you the option to NOT have a bike build by them) for "easy customer assembly".

I have twice stuck a note on bikes at work to tell people their forks are back to front. One guy left a note thanking me and confirming that it now rode much better. Tbe other bike was never seen again...

I have seen lots of kids on BSOs like that. Always makes me cry a bit inside.

Saw someone at CLIC24 with the same thing on an expensive full susser. I asked him why? And he said he preferred it. I then asked what he thought would happen when the forks were fully compressed... he didn't answer.

Saw him on course and he was laughably slow downhill.

Have you tried it?
Maybe they are all right and we are all wrong?

A friend of mine at uni had previously tried it on a steel roadbike as a kid - he thought that decreasing the wheelbase would make turning easier.

Apparently it worked really well until he braked hard going downhill. The steel forks flexed towards the frame, the wheel locked up under the downtube and he went flying OTB.

Saw a Herd of Chavs out over the local park a couple of weeks ago.

Two of their kids were riding identical BSO's, brakes didn't seem to work on either and they were just repeatedly rolling down a steep bank and seeing who could stay upright for the longest, of course one had the forks arse-backwards and kept he tumbling off as a result, while his harpy of a mother shouted at him...
Poor little Keenan/Jayden/Alfie whatever he's called...

I would have pointed it out but I think Mum's boyfriend might have set his Staffy on me...

[i]Maybe they are all right and we are all wrong?[/i]
Used to be someone on here who claimed it worked for him, rode it at various 24hr races like that.

Left a nice note on a folding bike in our bike shed the other days telling him his forks were on the wrong way round. Hopefully wasn't set up in the shop ike that!

He said it rode much better after that when he'd swapped 'em back again...

I foolishly pointed out that my best mate had his forks back-to-front while on the start line of a Gorick race with just a few minutes to the horn. I really should have kept quiet and laughed at him later, but I couldn't keep a straight face 😆

This is a guy who had been building and riding bikes from scratch for at least 15 years, so it happens to the best of us occasionally!

Cheers, Rich

This guy had an ASDA special, threaded headset and v brakes - how can you not notice that this is nonsense. the v brakes had little room out back of the headtube.

I was in car at time otherwise I would have pointed out the error

"Oh, my boyfriend built the bike for me!"

"Well he doesn't know much about bikes, does he?"

Missed your chance:

"...would you like one who does?"

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/motor-paced-cycle-speed-attempt-ends-disaster

oh miketually, i thought my super short 35mm stem was pretty cool - everyones gonna be dead envious of my -35mm at weekend!!!

I'm gonna flip my bars for -20 mm rise. Minus numbers, so 2015 right now.

In the workshop today...

[IMG] [/IMG]

Colleague: "Got my new (2nd hand) bike but the front brake is not very good. I told the guy who gave me it and he said it was working fine, could you have a look at it?"

The bike used V-brakes and the front one was disconnected "not very good" erm, Non-existent!!

Apparently this morning he spent a while trying to attach his pannier bag to his seatpost. I envisage lots of fun with this one!

Not that I want to defend numptys with back facing forks, but
When bikes come out of the box the forks face backwards, perhaps this is why some keep them this way?

See it all the time and with young kids you would be amazed how many of their friends rock up with bikes badly built by bike shops.

I can't remember if it was Tesco or Asda, but one of them had to pull an advert a few years ago because the bike they featured had the forks on backwards. Think it was a tv ad too, so not a cheap mistake.

I saw a bike on display in Halfords in this state once 😯

could be some fun to be had wandering round local halfords stores and seeing if any are on backwards.

There's a guy at work with a 90's mountain bike

For ages he had the fork legs the wrong way round, but with the clamp on brake bosses also the wrong way, so that even though the fork was back to front, the brake was in the correct place at the front.

I felt like telling him so many times but resisted because nobody likes a smart arse.

Then the Hargroves Cycles guy came in for the free servicing that the company arranges from time to time and I guess he had it serviced because the next day the fork legs were the correct way round. I guess the Hargroves guy couldn't be bothered to do the job properly and move the clamp-on bosses though as the V-brake is now at the back.

[url= https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5573/15022748129_5a9c7a485e_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5573/15022748129_5a9c7a485e_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/oTvvCM ]20140303_135111[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/47773257@N04/ ]Biscuit Powered Biker[/url], on Flickr

[url= https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3859/15022851650_5fdafc4b92_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3859/15022851650_5fdafc4b92_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/oTw3pC ]20140303_135102[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/47773257@N04/ ]Biscuit Powered Biker[/url], on Flickr

Better this way than the other way I suppose.

Biscuit Powered - they are Pace forks and they are meant to be like that! :facepalm:

Hmmm fair enough then, but they were still on back to front to begin with.

I felt like telling him so many times but resisted because nobody likes a smart arse.

... and you've avoided that 😆
Hargroves Cycles guy, we salute you.

There was a photo on here some time back of someone who fitted their forks upside down. I think they realised before riding though.

That would be northwind...

normally see 2 or so bike a year when doing bikeability, normally supermarket BSO.

Best one I had in the workshop, guy brought a bike in as his brakes not working very well and wanted them fixed as he was of to bike park Wales.

Anyway bike comes in, first thing I notice the grips, ones with wide parts to support the palm better, the palm bit pointing straight up!
then I pull the right brake to test the front brake, not much happen at the front, but the back brake is sort of working, no biggie I thought, he have them set up euro style, but something not right, just looks odd, notice the shifters not seating right then it dawns on me.......

Someone fitted the bars upside down making all the levers/brakes (cables a mess) the wrong way round and upside down, (why the brakes did not work fluid not covering the ports in the master cylinder)

SO chatting to him asking where he got the bike, would of put money on him say he got it mail order, but no he got it from a bike shop and that how it came!!

I went for a ride with a colleague, met up on a canal towpath before work. Eventually the path widens so I can look at his bike. Those forks look very steep I thought. Oh, and the brake is on the wrong side, and mudguard eyelets are in front not behind the legs.

Had to tell him but I think he's too frightened to take allen keys to his bike (it was mail order as he spent his wedding money at John Lewis's on it - he reckons he might have accidentally done it putting the bike in the back of the car with the stem loosened though!)

No. Biscuit powered is not getting away that easily. I'll re quote it on the next page too.

😆

Ah but for extra marks, why are the brakes on the "wrong" side on biscuit powered's pictures?

Might have to try my full face on backwards in case I prefer it

6079smithw - Member

Might have to try my full face on backwards in case I prefer it

Saddle, FTW! 😉

Pace always put rim brakes on the reverse on the principle that the wheel rotation would help counteract the forces trying to bow the stanchions outwards, giving better breaking power.

Years ago, there was a large group of us building our bikes in the courtyard of a Moroccan hotel before we started out on the first day of our holiday. Everyone stopped and howled with laughter at one of the guys who had put his bike together with the fork on backwards. Everyone that is, except me as I quietly stood at the back of the group loosening off my stem bolts..... 😳

TBH I feel sorry for folk who do things like that out of ignorance; they genuinely don't know and they need someone to show them the way. My feelings of sympathy stem from when I was about 18 and my younger brother, then aged 11, wanted to help me wire an electric plug. He swore he knew how to do it and he SO much wanted to impress his big brother so I let him go ahead. Ten minutes later he proudly presented me with his work - the cable insulation stripped right back to the clamp and three naked wires heading out to their respective posts! I told him he'd done a pretty good job but explained the need for full insulation and quietly re-wired it - no way was I going to deride him or insult his effort.

My 15 year-old son has exactly the same need to please his Dad and sometimes does bike things wrong. Again, I just quietly explain why it's wrong and show him how to put it right, his eagerness to impress makes my eyes well up!

But for a bike shop to make that kind of mistake is inexcusable and they should be publicly flogged.

giving better breaking power

I have called riders over and swapped them round. It's a two minute job with a multitool, even on BSOs. Most people aren't clueless, they just aren't on here posting about their bicycle fixation 😉

Ah but for extra marks, why are the brakes on the "wrong" side on biscuit powered's pictures?

They made them like that because the forward motion of the wheel helps "jam" the pads into the fork more and gains a bit more power - in theory.